1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parking support device which supports running of an automotive vehicle to a target parking position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the method of specifying an outline shape of an object or a parked vehicle by an approximation of a series of distance data (or a sequence of points) with a straight line, in which the series of distance data of the object or the parked vehicle is detected by a distance measuring unit, such as a laser radar, so that a target parking position and a target parking direction are determined for the self-vehicle is known. For example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-243857.
In the case of the above-mentioned conventional method, the series of distance data (or the sequence of points) to the object detected by the distance measuring unit is approximated with the straight line, and the target parking position and the target parking direction are determined based on the approximate straight line. Hence, if the distance measurement is performed at many detecting points on the object, the object information of the object with higher accuracy can be acquired, and the target parking position and direction with higher reliability can be determined.
On the other hand, the above-mentioned method requires many detecting points (the sequence of points with a sufficient length) to derive an approximate straight line, and it is difficult for the above-mentioned method to bring forward the start timing of parking support control (namely, the time the target parking position and the target parking direction can be determined).
In fact, in many cases, parked vehicles are on both the sides (the front and back sides) of a parking space, and in some case the sequence of points with a sufficient length cannot be obtained with respect to the parked vehicle on the back side of the parking space in the normal process of moving the self vehicle to the parking start position.